This is a sudden drop in blood pressure when you stand up from a sitting position or if you stand up after lying down. Ordinarily, gravity causes blood to pool in your legs whenever you stand. Your body compensates for this by increasing your heart rate and constricting blood vessels, thereby ensuring that enough blood returns to your brain. But in people with postural hypotension, this compensating mechanism fails and blood pressure falls, leading to symptoms of dizziness, lightheadedness, blurred vision and even fainting.

Postural hypotension can occur for a variety of reasons, including dehydration, prolonged bed rest, pregnancy, diabetes, heart problems, burns, excessive heat, large varicose veins and certain neurological disorders. A number of medications can also cause postural hypotension, particularly drugs used to treat high blood pressure — diuretics, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors — as well as antidepressants and drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease and erectile dysfunction.

Postural hypotension is especially common in older adults, with as many as 20 percent of those over age 65 experiencing postural hypotension. But postural hypotension can also affect young, otherwise healthy people who stand up suddenly after sitting with their legs crossed for long periods or after working for a time in a squatting position. Postural hypotension is generally harmless in young people.

[Courtesy of MayoClinic.com]

I’m off to go cry now.

Several people have asked me why I’m doing this, and I couldn’t come up with a good answer. So, I did what I always do… I retired to my mountain-top cave to meditate. After spending what seemed like minutes buried in deep thought, I believe that I may finally have boiled it down to the following three reasons:

1. It’s good for my body. It’s a helluva work out for the arms, shoulders, and abs, and should serve me well on my path toward attaining hotness.
2. It’s difficult. I need something that is difficult… something to challenge me. Many things come rather easy to me… languages… then there’s… ummm… there’s… languages… Anyway, my point is that I needed a challenge in an area that was actually challenging to me.
3. I don’t want to do it. What better reason could I possibly have for doing this? The very fact that I don’t want to do it, but am still doing it anyway, shows that I’m on the road to inculcating myself with more self-discipline. Yay me.
4. There is no 4th reason.

As I keep telling other people… there’s only one way through it: through it.

10 x 2
8 x 1
6 x 1
max (15) x 1

Q.  Why am I doing this?

A.  How the hell should I know?  Why did I start doing yoga?  Why have I been eating better, exercising, and starting to face heretofore crippling fears?  I guess I just want to change who I am. I want to inculcate myself with a new self-image and more discipline.  I want to strengthen my core, shape my abs, lose weight, fix my shoulder problems, and start packing some sexy guns.

I want to be hot for a change.

I grew up scrawny and weak.  I barely weighed 140 lbs when I entered basic training at the age of 17.  At my peak weight, I cracked the scales at 250+ lbs.  Now, after altering my diet and increasing my activity level, I’ve managed to work my way back down to 225 lbs.  I’m still not where I want to be, but I’m on a path.

Q.  Why would I post something like this where the public-at-large can see it?

A.  Because I want you to hold me accountable.

Here’s how it works.  Today, I did their assessment test.  My total number of “good form” push ups was 20.  Since I’m under 40, this puts me nicely in the middle of rank 3 and establishes which training program I fit into.  In the coming weeks, I’ll post my results.  Once I reach 100 push ups, I’ll let you know.

So here it is… my progress so far.  The top photo was taken back in January.  The bottom was taken yesterday.  The angles are a bit different, but the progress is evident. I’m not going to freak anyone out at a party any time soon, but I am proud of myself.

I’m doing this on my own, without an actual yoga teacher, so I’m careful not to screw things up.  If any of you out there among my 4 readers are actual yoga teachers, I’d love to hear critique or advice you may feel inclined to share.

01.14.08

06.24.08